Steeplechase racing will be showcased on six different Thursdays throughout the 2024 summer racing season at Colonial Downs and for the first time in several years, pari-mutuel wagering will be offered on the entire jump slate — 18 races in all. Three jump races will be contested on the following Thursdays — July 11 (opening day), July 18, August 1, August 8, August 22 and September 5.
Pari-mutuel wagering has been available on Virginia Gold Cup jump races for years. Douglas Lees photo.
First race each Thursday is 11:45 AM and all three will be completed in time for Colonial’s first scheduled flat race at 1:30 PM. Steeplechase riders will use the regular jockey’s room on the track’s front side and horses will saddle in the paddock. The jump races will be available to watch and wager via Colonial’s simulcast signal. In addition to regular bets, there will be an All-Steeplechase Pick-3 and two daily doubles that cover races 1-2 and 2-3.
The first of two Colonial Downs condition books is out and available online via the track’s website. Conditions for four of the six jump days are included and feature four $50,000 maiden hurdles, a pair of $55,000 allowance hurdles and a $50,000 filly/mare maiden hurdle among others. A pair of $100,000 filly and mare stakes highlight the schedule — the Randolph D. Rouse on August 8 and the Life’s Illusion on September 5. Both will be run at the 2 ¼ miles distance. More details are available at nationalsteeplechase.com.
Casse returns along with multiple champion Stidham, DeVaux, Desormeaux, and Clement lead the list of new trainers
Signaling the beginning of the 2024 Thoroughbred season, Colonial Downs’ barn area will open on Monday, June 24, welcoming returning conditioners, as well as newcomers who are sure to impact the standings. Training is scheduled to begin on Thursday, June 27.
Multiple leading trainer Mike Stidham and Hall of Fame conditioner Mark Casse are among the trainers preparing their string for Colonial Downs 2024 Thoroughbred Season. Casse returns after a successful debut meet where he won 10 races, including Fev Rover’s score in the Grade 1 $500,000 Beverly D., a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
“It was our first meet and we loved it,” Casse said. “(Colonial Downs) has got one of the nicest turf courses in North America. When I came in for the Beverly D, I flew in with Tyler Gaffalione, Kendrick Carmouche, and Javier (Castellano), and they all commented that this is one of the nicest turf courses they have ridden.”
Mark Casse’s Fev Rover in the Colonial Downs stable area in 2023.
A celebrated mainstay of the summer season, Karen Dennehy Godsey plans to return to Colonial Downs, coming off the most successful meet in terms of earnings of the trainer’s 11-year career.
“Colonial offers races that no other track has, especially given the Virginia-bred and Virginia-certified program,” Godsey said. “It’s quality racing. The money is good, the racing is good, and the track is gorgeous. There is no other turf course like it. Most every horse in my barn is Virginia-bred or Virginia-certified, so those races they offer level the playing field.”
Newcomers expected to stable at Colonial in 2024 include Christophe Clement, Cherie DeVaux, Jordan Blair, and Keith Desormeaux.
“After looking at the condition book, I saw they have a lot of 2-year-old races, they have a lot of 2-year-old route races, and they have plenty of turf racing,” Desormeaux said. “The surface is second to none –turf and dirt. The facility is very nice, the purses are substantial — there were many features that attracted me. Our goal does not change — we’re developing horses to run at the highest level. It’s going to be a great place to develop these young horses.”
Exiting the most successful season in the history of the racetrack, in terms of record number of races, race days, visitors, horses in competition, live bets and off-track bets, Colonial Downs’ 2024 stakes program consists of 27 races worth $5.7 million. The season will feature daily average purses of nearly $700,000.
The 27-day meet runs from Thursday, July 11 through Saturday, September 7.
MEET HIGHLIGHTS:
Every Thursday is Thirsty Thursday with $3 domestic draft refills every Thursday with the purchase of a souvenir cup.
With a 4:30 p.m. post time, Fridays are Party at the Downs featuring happy hour beer and wine specials from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. and live entertainment in the Trackside Tent.
Opening weekend Saturday, July 13 is highlighted by the inaugural editions of the $125,000 Million Preview, $125,000 Beverly D. Preview, and the $125,000 Boston, which serves as a prep for the Secretariat Stakes. Nominations for the three stakes close Thursday, June 27.
Saturday July 13 also features a giveaway of an 18-month calendar loaded with photos of the stars of the 2023 season at Colonial Downs.
Colonial’s races will be prominently featured on FanDuel TV all season long. Additionally, FanDuel TV will be on-site for coverage of the Festival of Racing on August 10.
Racing fans are encouraged to wager on racing from Colonial Downs via www.TwinSpires.com, the official advance-deposit wagering service for Churchill Downs Incorporated and its family of racetracks. TwinSpires.com boasts an improved wagering experience and mobile app combining the latest technology with the ability to wager on virtually every quarter, harness and thoroughbred horse race from venues around the globe. TwinSpires.com also offers access to unmatched insight and analysis from our horse racing experts, handicappers, insiders, educators and Bloodstock Research Information Services (Brisnet).
Originally posted on 6/12/2024 at theracingbiz.com, written by Nick Hahn.
One day before Seize the Grey seized the day in the 149th running of the Preakness Stakes, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) stopped the gray.
Gray games, that is, the slot machine-like contraptions pushed by advocates as “games of skill.” Youngkin vetoed legislation that would have permitted thousands of these machines to proliferate across the state with only minimal regulation.
With his May 17 veto, Youngkin checked the advancement of a bill that could have done enormous damage to the economic model of Virginia’s thoroughbred industry, which has in the last five years become a true success story. Only an “unusual summertime session” of the Virginia General Assembly, as Graham Moomaw reports in the Virginia Mercury, would prevent Virginians from having a year to take a closer look of legalizing a form of gaming that would undercut a successful horse racing business model.
Gray gaming machines look to the casual observer like slot machines. Advocates claim they are different because, while slots are purely games of chance – the player has no ability to affect the outcome – gray machines require players to engage with the game in various ways, which does affect the outcome.
That’s the “skill” element that advocates point to.
Opponents, including horse racing advocates, say the skill involved is minimal and exists merely to evade state law prohibiting games of chance but not games of skill. “Skill for idiots,” one player described the gray games.
Gray games proliferated in the first place because they are gray, legally speaking: they seek to exist in a gray area of the law. Then they were stymied by the state and gray machine operators – including the companies that make the machines and the bars and convenience stores that often host them – sought changes to state law to allow gray machines with very little regulation.
That irked racing advocates.
“The whole process needs to be slowed down and make sure gray gaming is good for Virgnia,” said Debbie Easter of the umbrella Virginia Equine Alliance. “There is no path to regulation of these gray games. There is no centralized regulation or some kind of oversight for gray gaming that would have tens of thousands of machines.”
Racing benefits from so-called historical horse racing machines (HHR), which also look like slot machines but are parimutuel in nature and use the results of prior horse races to generate winners and losers.
HHR is regulated by the Virginia Racing Commission under a set of provisions established by Virginia’s General Assembly to benefit a native industry of small business that accounts for over 5,000 jobs and has over a $500 million economic impact, according to a 2019 study.
The number of HHR terminals statewide is capped at 5,000. They’re permitted only in localities where a local referendum approved them, and in a facility licensed and regulated by the Virginia Racing Commission, designated to be away from churches, schools, and day care centers.
In addition, by law for every 100 HHR terminals in operation, the license holder – Colonial Downs – must conduct at least one day of live racing. In the last couple of years that has meant 27 days of live racing – soon to rise – with average daily purse money of over $600,000, a robust figure well above other Mid-Atlantic competitors. That generates jobs, income and multiple forms of revenue on and off the track, not to measure what horse racing brings to the souls of its participants.
“From feed, tractors, blacksmiths and trainers, we are large number of small businesses that comprise a large industry, one of the biggest in the Virginia,” Easter said.
HHR was approved by Virginia’s General Assembly in 2018 as part of the renaissance of Virginia horse racing, to restore live thoroughbred racing at Colonial Downs, which had been dormant since 2013.
The rise of gray gaming in Virginia grew out of the pandemic and was banned by the General Assembly in late 2020. After a Virginia court issued an injunction in December 2021 that voided the ban, gray gaming operated until the Virginia Supreme Court reinstated the ban once again in the fall of 2023.
Earlier this year, legislation to legalize gray gaming advanced through the General Assembly. The bill that was sent to Youngkin’s desk, SB 212, had few constraints on the machines. Though it did limit the number to four per convenience store and ten per truck stop, it did not require local referendum approval.
It also placed no statewide cap on the number of machines. It could have allowed many more machines than the 5,000 permitted HHR terminals, HHR advocates said.
That combination – a new and much more lightly regulated competitor allowed to proliferate throughout the state – led racing advocates and anti-gambling activists to fight back. Indeed, prior to the launch of HHR, racing advocates had considered and rejected a “gray games strategy,” deciding instead to enter through the front door, by working with the General Assembly.
So unbalanced was the legislation that voters in Manassas Park, who rejected off-track betting twice in its history, would have no say in the total number of gray games in their community or where they would be located.
These issues also bothered Youngkin.
“In recent years, the Commonwealth of Virginia has authorized casinos, sports betting, and parimutuel wagering, on top of longer-standing gaming options like the Virginia Lottery, horse racing, and charitable gaming,” he wrote in his veto statement. “When it comes to additional gaming options, such as games of skill, we must proceed with a robust set of safeguards.”
After the bill initially passed, Youngkin sent it back to the General Assembly, urging the legislature to adopt several such safeguards. Those included a higher tax rate and buffer zones around existing gambling facilities. Those amendments were rejected by the Senate, leaving the Governor no choice, faced with an all or nothing situation, other than to veto.
One source estimated that gray games could take a substantial bite out of HHR, and HHR has been, for racing and the businesses and communities that benefit from it, the goose that laid the golden egg.
Credit Governor Youngkin for exercising proper oversight.
The Virginia thoroughbred industry’s economic model has worked well since the onset of HHR and Colonial Downs’s reopening in 2019. The track itself has set handle records in its last two years. The Virginia Certified Residency Program, which encourages horse owners to house their young horses in the Commonwealth, generates nearly six dollars of economic impact for each dollar of investment, according to a study.
Last August 12 the Grade 2 Secretariat Stakes – named for the greatest-ever Virginia-bred horse, arguably the greatest horse, period, of all time – took place for the first time in Secretariat’s home state, at Colonial Downs.
Gigante was bred by Ann Mudge Backer and Smitten Farm. She is the widow of longtime Virginia breeder Bill Backer, advertising exec and inspiration for the TV series Mad Men.
It was, you might say, a gigantic win: among the biggest in Virginia’s distinguished racing history. And it was only possible because of the conditions created by the presence of HHR. For the racing industry, that’s what’s at stake.
The following was written by Frank Vespe and appeared in “The Racing Biz” June 6th. Larry Johnson is a Virginia thoroughbred horse breeder and owner whose Legacy Farm is based in in Bluefield, VA. His Future Is Now, a 4-year-old Great Notion filly, broke his maiden at Colonial Downs last August and will compete in the Grade 2 Intercontinental Stakes at Saratoga June 7th. Johnson also bred Mindframe, 7-2 second favorite in Saturday’s $2 million Belmont Stakes! Frank Vespe’s article follows:
“It ain’t a science,” Larry Johnson laughed about breeding racehorses.
Maybe not. But he said that a few days before Saturday’s Grade 1 Belmont Stakes – to be run at Saratoga this year and next – in which Mindframe, a horse he bred, is the 7-2 second choice on the morning line. The Belmont will be one day after Johnson’s homebred Future Is Now tries to live up to her name in the Grade 2 Intercontinental as the third choice.
Future Is Now returns to the Colonial Downs winners circle after an August 5, 2023 win.
Which comes two weeks after Future Is Now won Pimlico’s The Very One, in which another Johnson homebred, Hollywood Walk – who is a half to Mindframe – finished third. Also that weekend, yet another Johnson homebred, Call Another Play, finished third, just missing second, in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan. All are Maryland-breds.
Maybe it’s not a science, in other words, but it sure is a business where it pays to be in the right place at the right time.
“It’s a great ride,” Johnson said. “I don’t do this to necessarily make money. I try not to lose money. But it’s weeks like this: if this doesn’t get you going, you really ought to just go into hibernation someplace.”
Johnson sold Mindframe as a yearling, and he fetched a top bid of $600,000 from Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables. They sent him to trainer Todd Pletcher, and while Mindframe remained unraced – and even unnamed – until the first quarter of his three-year-old season, he’s made up for some lost time with two wins by a combined 20-plus lengths.
Jockey Victor Carrasco gives Future Is Now a sponge bath after a maiden special weight win at Colonial Downs.
Remarkably enough, the Constitution colt, who’s raced only twice and whose top victory came in a first-level allowance, is 7-2 on the morning line for Saturday’s Belmont. That’s lower than either the Kentucky Derby winner, Mystik Dan (5-1), or the Preakness winner Seize the Grey (8-1). Sierra Leone is the 9-5 favorite.
“My gut tells me it’s not just [trainer Todd] Pletcher [that accounts for his short odds]. It’s the brilliance that he shows,” Johnson surmised. “The way in which Mindframe ran his two races, if your project out a little bit, is brilliant. So I think there is a lot of projection going on with him.”
Mindframe is out of the Street Sense mare Walk of Stars, who won five times in her career and earned over $150,000. Among those wins were a victory in Charles Town’s Pink Ribbon Stakes and a maiden score by 30 ¼ lengths – that’s not a typo – at Timonium.
Walk of Stars has had four offspring to race, including Mindframe and the stakes-placed Hollywood Walk, who may very well become a stakes winner before the end of the turf season. By Animal Kingdom, the five-year-old mare’s third-place finish in The Very One was her best performance to date. Her value is teetering on the brink of a major increase.
For Johnson, a forensic accountant by trade, the breeding of Mindframe may not have been scientific, but it is the result – and may become the pinnacle of – a family he’s been building literally for decades. All the way back in 1986, he and James Kehoe bred Ran’s Chick to Parfaitement – Deputed Testamony’s entrymate in the 1983 Preakness – to produce Special Kell.
Special Kell won a stake for Johnson, and later he bred her to Star de Naskra, a combination that produced the four-time winner Star Kell. Bred to Street Sense, she produced Walk of Stars, the dam of Mindframe.
Mindframe won at first asking. Photo by Lauren King.
An overnight success nearly 40 years in the making, you might say.
Speaking of which: the last Maryland-bred Triple Crown race winner was Caveat, who won the 1983 Belmont, three weeks after Deputed Testamony won the Preakness while coupled to Parfaitement. That’s a streak Mindframe will try to snap Saturday.
“Whether it’s sisters or nieces or mother, it all goes back Ran’s Chick and the foal she had, Special Kell,” Johnson said. “Special Kell has just been phenomenal. She’s the great-granddam of Future Is Now, and the granddam of Mindframe. If he would achieve Grade 1 success, the influence it would have on the pedigrees of so many of my horses… it’s just overwhelming “
Walk of Stars is a half-sister to the multiple graded-placed Strike the Moon, whose wins included the 2011 Charles Town Oaks, in which she defeated the great distaff sprinter Groupie Doll. That pedigree, plus her own racing success – and Johnson’s ownership of a share of Constitution – made breeding Walk of Stars to Constitution, a multiple Grade 1 winner by Tapit, a logical decision.
Early returns, of course, are promising, so Johnson sent the mare back to Constitution for a late cover this spring. He expects to learn in the next couple of weeks whether she’s pregnant.
The story’s similar with Future Is Now. She’s by Great Notion, out of the Bernardini mare Past as Prelude. The winless Past as Prelude was out of the unraced Meadowlake mare Magical Meadow, who in turn was out of… wait for it… Special Kell.
Future is Now won The Very One. Photo by Allison Janezic.
Future Is Now showed early promise, scuffled a bit, and then really began to come around this winter at Gulfstream Park, winning an allowance race impressively before running a good second in the Captiva Island behind 7-10 favorite Stone Silent. Shipped back north to Laurel, she finished fifth against the boys in the King T. Leatherbury before winning The Very One.
Future Is Now is 8-1 on the morning line in the Intercontinental, which makes her the third choice. Pennsylvania-bred Roses for Debra, undefeated when sprinting on the turf against distaffers, is the 6-5 morning line choice.
All in all, it could make for quite a weekend, though Johnson will not be in Saratoga to witness it. “Too complicated and congested,” he said, so instead he’ll have a watch party at his Northern Virginia farm.
And though a win by Future Is Now would be no mean feat, Johnson’s eyes are pointed towards Saturday.
Future Is Now in the Colonial Downs winners circle.
“Right now I’m trying to do a little work, but all I can think about is the race call on Saturday,” he laughed, imagining Mindframe drawing away to victory. “Who knows? But Saturday at 6:45 can’t get here quick enough.”
The following appeared in the Paulick Report June 6, 2024.
Centennial Farms will look to double their tally in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets when they send out Antiquarian in Saturday’s 10-furlong test for 3-year-olds, at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the $250,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase will look to follow in the footsteps of Centennial’s 1993 Belmont Stakes-winner Colonial Affair. He was conditioned by Hall of Fame trainer Scotty Schulhofer and ridden to victory by future Hall of Famer Julie Krone, who became the first female jockey to win a Triple Crown race.
Antiquarian in the Fair Grounds winners circle.
Antiquarian graduated at second asking over a sloppy and sealed main track in February at Fair Grounds, earning a shot there in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby where he broke through the gate before the start. He was reloaded and endured a difficult trip when sixth, defeated four lengths by the victorious Catching Freedom.
The talented chestnut, by the Centennial Farms-campaigned Preservationist, redeemed himself last out, overcoming being bumped at the break by Deterministic before racing three-wide from third position and making a five-wide bid through the turn en route to a three-quarter length score over returning rival The Wine Steward.
Antiquarian galloped on the Oklahoma training track on Wednesday before visiting the gate for a schooling session that went off without a hitch with Don Little, Jr., president and co-owner of Centennial Farms keeping close watch.
“Right after the Louisiana Derby, the first time he went to the gate he stood there for two or three minutes and had no issues whatsoever,” recalled Little, Jr. “I think in Louisiana, when the handler cocked his head straight, he thought it was gate time and anticipated it a little bit. I’m not worried about it. He’s doing great. He’s on the right path and couldn’t be doing any better right now.”
Antiquarian (outside) works at Saratoga in preparation for the Belmont Stakes.
Antiquarian, piloted through all five starts by Hall of Famer John Velazquez, will look to become the tenth horse to complete the Peter Pan-Belmont Stakes double following Counterpoint [1951], High Gun [1954], Gallant Man [1957], Cavan [1958], Coastal [1979], Danzig Connection [1986], A.P. Indy [1992], Tonalist [2014] and last year’s winner Arcangelo.
Little, Jr. said Antiquarian’s Peter Pan score, in which he surged past The Wine Steward inside the final sixteenth, confirmed his status as a serious horse.
“It really solidified what Todd – and Johnny – had thought and told us, that he had a lot of room to grow,” Little, Jr. said. “He put it all together and it was a great performance. The neat thing about this horse is he’s very intelligent and he’s gaining from every experience.”
Centennial Farms is located next to the Middleburg Training Center in Middleburg, VA. Antiquarian earned his VTA Residency Certification here and was trained here by Paula Parsons as a yearling.
With the ongoing construction of a new and reimagined Belmont Park downstate, the Belmont Stakes will be contested at 1 1/4-miles at the Spa – but Little, Jr. noted his horse is one that may have thrived at the 12-furlong ‘Test of the Champion’ distance.
“We’ve said that right from the beginning,” Little, Jr. said. “Everyone says there’s an asterisk, but you can put an asterisk on a lot of events. The fact that this race is still a little bit longer than he’s gone will help him. I think he’ll be right there at the end.”
Centennial Farms has been involved in the highest levels of thoroughbred racing and breeding and, through the use of racing partnerships, has opened the door for many people to enjoy the sport.
Little, Jr. credits a loyal group of longtime owners as well as racing manager Dr. Stephen Carr and yearling trainer Paula Parsons for helping support and develop another potential Classic winner for Centennial. And he is hopeful that there will be more reasons to celebrate come Saturday.
“We have a very good tactician on his back,” Little, Jr. said. “Hall of Famer Johnny Velazquez has ridden him every time and he’s helped him grow every time. I think we’ll be stalking right there and be ready to run.”
Perhaps the fact that Antiquarian, who also paddock schooled Wednesday, will exit post 5 is a good omen as he will be wearing the same number that his sire sported en route to victory in the Spa’s 2019 Grade 1 Woodward.
“I hope so,” said Little, Jr., with a laugh. “Preservationist got off to a good start. He had [stakes winner] Band of Gold with Kenny McPeek and, percentage wise, his number of winners is pretty good. Airdrie breeds nice horses. We’re fortunate they took him in as a stallion and we’re hoping Saturday adds to Preservationists’ success as a stallion.”
G3 Peter Pan winner Antiquarian visited the starting gate at Saratoga on Wednesday, June 5, ahead of a start in the G1 Belmont StakesSusie Raiser/NYRA Photo
The $2 million Belmont Stakes — third leg of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown Series — will be held at Saratoga Racecourse Saturday June 10th. An article on results of the post position draw is below courtesy of the Paulick Report.
The Belmont Stakes program features six Grade 1 stakes races — and all will be carded consecutively which will make for some very attractive multi-race wagers. The Belmont itself is Race 12 and will go to post at 6:41 PM. The $1 million Manhattan (Race 11), $1 million Hill ‘n Dale Metropolitan Handicap (Race 10), $1 million Jaipur Stakes (Race 9), $500,000 Woody Stephens Stakes (Race 8) and $500,000 Ogden Phipps (Race 7) all precede the Belmont. A trio of other stakes will be contested in Races 4 thru 6 — the True North (G2), Poker (G3) and Suburban (G2).
Fans can bet the action at any Rosie’s Gaming Emporium — located in New Kent, Richmond, Hampton, Dumfries, Emporia, Vinton and Collinsville, at either VA-Horseplay OTB located at Breakers Sports Grille in Henrico and Buckets Bar & Grill in Chesapeake, and online via TwinSpires, TVG, XpressBet and NYRABets.
Sierra Leone will get a new bit and a new rider in Flavien Prat for the Belmont Stakes, and has drawn post nine (Pat McDonough photo)
A Kentucky Derby winner and a Preakness winner will be in the starting gates for this Saturday’s unique edition of the Belmont Stakes, to be held for the first time at Saratoga Race Course over a distance of 1 1/4 miles. However, neither Mystik Dan nor Seize The Grey will be favored for the third leg of the Triple Crown.
That honor goes to Chad Brown-trained Sierra Leone, who finished second in the Kentucky Derby, beaten just a nose for the win after lugging in through the stretch run. The Gun Runner colt is favored on the Belmont Stakes morning line at 9-5. Sierra Leone will get a new bit and a new rider in Flavien Prat for the Belmont Stakes, and has drawn post nine in the field of 10 3-year-olds.
Peter M. Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, and Brook T. Smith’s Sierra Leone is two noses shy of a perfect 5-for-5 record. The colt made his first two starts at Aqueduct Racetrack with a first-out win in November and a narrow defeat in December to returning rival Dornoch in the Grade 2 Remsen after lugging in down the lane.
Sierra Leone added blinkers and was perfect through his first two starts this year, closing from deep to take the Grade 2 Risen Star over sloppy and sealed footing in February at Fair Grounds and the Grade 1 Blue Grass in April at Keeneland.
Post positions for the 2024 Belmont StakesCoglianese photo
The $2.3 million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale purchase, out of the Grade 1-winning Malibu Moon mare Heavenly Love, exited post 2-of-20 under Tyler Gaffalione in the Kentucky Derby and after saving ground early, rallied wide down the lane, bumping with Forever Young from the three-sixteenths to the furlong grounds. Sierra Leone and Forever Young, who share the same second dam in the multiple graded stakes-placed Darling My Darling, brushed to the wire with only a nose between them – but also a further nose back of the victorious Mystik Dan.
Brown remains level-headed about the narrow defeat.
“You have no choice but to move forward,” said Brown, whose best previous Belmont Stakes result is a runner-up effort in 2018 with Gronkowski. “It’s not something I think about every day, but that’s horse racing. I’ve been on both ends of it and it just so happens that it was the biggest race in this country. It’s a tough thing to lose the Kentucky Derby by a nose, but hopefully he can redeem himself in this race and I’m just so grateful I have the horse.
“He ran a super race and never let us down in terms of not showing up in the race. He’s always fired,” Brown added. “Has he gotten in his own way a couple times that prevented him from being undefeated? Probably, but he has so much raw ability that you take the good with the bad—and there’s a lot more good. I’m more or less managing him to try to make him Champion 3-Year-Old – picking the right races and giving him the rest that would be most beneficial to him.”
While the Derby winner continued to the Preakness, Sierra Leone, bred in Kentucky by Debby Oxley, has trained locally over the Oklahoma dirt training track with a new cage bit and on Saturday will have the services of a new rider in Flavien Prat.
“I think the left stick would have done him a world of good on the turn in the Derby, but that’s hindsight, now,” Brown said. “Nevertheless, I decided, for insurance, to have something on him to provide more power-steering. With horses, sometimes you try something when they’re younger and it doesn’t seem to move the needle much, but you try something when they’re more mature—it could be equipment or the ground they run on or a track they don’t like—and it does.”
Sierra Leone has collected more than $1.9 million in purse earnings through a 5-3-2-0 ledger.
The OTB at Breakers Sports Grille is located in Ollie’s Plaza on West Broad Street in Henrico.
Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher will saddle a trio in the Belmont Stakes, led by 7-2 second choice Mindframe for Mike Repole and St. Elias Stable. Drawn in post 10 under Irad Ortiz, Jr., the lightly-raced son of Constitution has won his two career starts by a combined 21 1/4 lengths.
“He’s been super-impressive in his two races and the way he’s done that and how easily he’s won those races, how fast those races have been – it gives you the confidence he has the talent,” Pletcher said. “The question mark is if he has the experience and the seasoning. Obviously, he’s giving up some experience to some really good horses, so that’s the concern. I think, from a talent perspective, he has enough talent to compete with this field, but he doesn’t have the foundation and the experience that most of the ones in here do.”
Pletcher’s other two entrants are G3 Peter Pan winner Antiquarian (post five, 12-1) and the maiden Protective (post seven, 20-1).
“I liked the way Antiquarian finished [in the Peter Pan], and I really like the way he galloped out. I’m excited about giving him the opportunity to run a mile and a quarter,” Pletcher said.
Belmont Stakes participant Antiquarian, shown in the winners circle at Fair Grounds, is one of two Virginia-Certified horses in the field. The other Mindframe who is second early favorite at 7-2.
Ken McPeek was pleased with post three for his Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up Mystik Dan (5-1).
Lance Gasaway, 4 G Racing, Daniel Hamby, III and Valley View Farm’s Grade 1 Kentucky Derby-winner Mystik Dan will become the only horse to race in all three legs of the Triple Crown this year, but jockey Brian Hernandez will have to work out another good trip for the son of Goldencents.
McPeek credits Hernandez, Jr. for engineering an incredible trip when a matter of inches decided the Derby.
“He’s been doing that for me for years,” McPeek said. “I don’t question it when he’s out there and I don’t worry when it doesn’t go right. He’s ultra-consistent and he’s not scared to go inside. Any tactic he takes, I trust it. As a relationship between jockey and trainer, it’s the best one I’ve ever had.
“He gets a horse to travel very well underneath him and they’re very efficient when he’s on them, so the way they move across the ground and how a rider gets a horse to flow in the middle of the race can be more important than the finish,” added McPeek, who completed a long-awaited personal Triple Crown with Mystik Dan after winning the Belmont Stakes in 2002 with Sarava – who, at 70-1, denied War Emblem a Triple Crown – and the Grade 1 Preakness in 2020 with filly Swiss Skydiver. “Brian gets the horse very comfortable, and he has very soft hands. He never checks a horse, ever, unless somebody takes him out, so there’s never any lost motion.”
Seize The Grey is shown capturing the Preakness Stakes (Mitch Stringer photo)
The 88-year-old D. Wayne Lukas will be looking to add a fifth Belmont with the horse that provided him a seventh Preakness win in MyRacehorse’s Seize the Grey. The son of Arrogate will break from the rail post position under up-and-coming rider Jaime Torres. Listed at 8-1 on the morning line, Seize The Grey also won the G2 Pat Day Mile on Kentucky Derby day, so both he and Mystik Dan are racing for the third time in five weeks.
Lukas lauded his charge’s versatility in being able to compete on Derby Day as well as in the Preakness, as he mirrors the race spacing of Mystik Dan.
“He’s not one-dimensional,” Lukas said. “I told Jaime Torres before the Preakness – I gave him two things to think about – if you break sharp and they let you have the pace, then just take it. Don’t get creative and try to be cute. Just let him do his thing. If they go with you – Baffert [Imagination] and one other horse or two break, take him back and lay comfortably in the 3-or-4 spot and get him in a better position to run at the quarter-pole.
“That’s all you got to do – you either make a decision off the break to go or you make a decision to settle off it,” continued Lukas. “That’s what this horse can do. He is definitely not one-dimensional. He’ll rate very kindly. Now, at a mile and a quarter, again the early fractions are probably going to be a little slower. He could end up on the lead again.”
Other Kentucky Derby runners entered in the Belmont Stakes are sixth-place finisher Resilience for trainer Bill Mott (post 2, 10-1), eighth-place finisher Honor Marie for trainer Whit Beckman (post 8, 12-1), and tenth-place finisher Dornoch for trainer Danny Gargan (post 6, 15-1).
G3 Peter Pan runner-up The Wine Steward completes the field for trainer Mike Maker (post 4, 15-1).
The 2024 Upperville Colt & Horse Show presented by MARS EQUESTRIAN™ is the oldest horse show in the U.S. and will celebrate its 171st year this June 3 through 9. Parking and general admission are free again this year.
Founded in 1853 as a one-day show to encourage better breeding and care of horses, the show has grown to a weeklong tradition with thousands of equestrian and equine pairs competing in a variety of competitive disciplines. Many of the continent’s top professional riders as well as amateurs compete under the spectacular setting featuring the famous oaks at Grafton Farm—the same location since 1853.
The UCHS is an FEI CSI4* event that attracts hundreds of world-class equestrians year after year. The equine and human athletes compete in disciplines ranging from international level show jumping, hunters and equitation to local ponies, in-hand conformation classes, and women in traditional, elegant sidesaddle. In addition to its CSI4* designation, the competition boasts Premier and Jumper Rating Six classifications with US Equestrian, is sanctioned by the Virginia Horse Shows Association and the Maryland Horse Shows Association and is a World Championship Hunter Rider recognized show. UCHS is also one of a handful of qualified Heritage Horse Shows across the United States.
The week-long show culminates on June 9 with the excitement of the $226,000 Upperville Jumper Classic CSI4* featuring top equestrians from across the nation and around the globe. The day’s entertainment includes junior and amateur riders and the Horses & Horsepower car show. Vendors throughout the show offer a variety of food as well as equestrian, sporting, and fashionable clothing, milliners, tack and leather goods, jewelry, art and hand-crafted gifts. The venue is beautifully located in the heart of Virginia’s hunt country.
MARS EQUESTRIAN’s sponsorship launched in 2018 to extend Mars, Incorporated’s long-time support of equestrian sports and to honor an equestrian legacy through purposeful partnerships.
In addition to being the presenting sponsor of UCHS, MARS EQUESTRIAN will have multiple touchpoints across the 2024 showgrounds including: Sponsorship of the Hunter and Jumper Riders Lounges, which will be open to riders, trainers and grooms, and recognition of The Ethel M® Chocolate Brand as the Co-Sponsor of the 2024 FEI $226,000 Jumper Classic, along with Lugano Diamonds.
Also of note for equestrians wishing to compete in this year’s UCHS, regular entry opening date is Monday, April 15 at noon. Entry opening date for hunter breeding, leadline, walk-trot, side saddle, Cleveland Bay, Irish Hunter and Connemara divisions is Thursday, May 2 at noon. To see the UCHS Prize List and classes, click here.
On Sunday, June 2, UCHS holds a special unrated show day for both hunters and jumpers. Upperville Jump 4 Fun Jumper Schooling Show and Upperville Jump 4 Fun Hunter Schooling Show open for entries on Tuesday, May 2 at noon, through www.horseshowslonline.com. All classes are open to horses and ponies ridden by juniors, amateurs or professionals. To see the Jump 4 Fun Prize List, click here.
For more information and the weeklong show schedule, visit www.upperville.com.
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About the Upperville Colt & Horse Show
The Upperville Colt & Horse Show, also known as the Upperville Horse Show and UCHS, is the oldest horse show in the U.S. Founded in 1853 as a one-day show to encourage better breeding and care of horses, the show has grown to a weeklong tradition with thousands of equestrian and equine pairs competing in a variety of competitive disciplines. Many of the continent’s top professional riders as well as amateurs compete under the spectacular setting featuring the famous oaks at Grafton Farm—the same location as 1853. UCHS is a 501(c)3 charitable organization that raises funds for The Churches of Upperville Outreach Program and supports other area charities. For complete schedules and up-to-the-minute results, visit the website at www.upperville.com.
A reminder to all Virginia certified residency facilities and owners of outside 2-year-olds: any 2-year-olds wanting to be VA Certified MUST arrive at a participating Virginia facility no later than June 30th.
For participating facilities in Virginia please see the resources section on our web page:
*Please note a VACTP registration form must be submitted within 30 days of the horse’s arrival along with applicable fees. Certification can not be guaranteed if there are any delays. Certified applications can be completed online or by mailing a printed form with applicable fees to our office
Chris Gracie, a Pennsylvanian who grew up riding in Kennett Square and is now owner of Gracie Bloodstock, came into the racing industry as an amateur steeplechase rider. He amassed many accolades in the sport such as being the youngest rider in history to win the Maryland Hunt Cup in 2003 on Swayo. He won that race again in 2006 aboard Bug River. But at 6’4 he always knew he was going to be too tall to continue riding competitively and committed himself to his studies at the University of Kentucky, earning a degree in Business Management. He used those skills as he transitioned to the breeding industry. Chris did everything, working with stallions, preparing yearlings, working on consignments, and at breeding farms. After spending time in Kentucky learning the trade, he set out to start his own business.
About 3 years ago Chris took over Locust Hill Farm in Middleburg, VA. The historic property was previously owned by longtime Virginia horsewoman and member of the Virginia Steeplechase Association Hall of Fame Magalen (Maggie) Ohrstrom Bryant. She was known for breeding excellent steeplechase and flat horses, and she campaigned V.E. Day, winner of the 2014 Travers Stakes (Gr. I) at Saratoga. Her Virginia-bred Deputy Fling won at Colonial Downs in the 2011 Bert Allen Stakes. Two of her steeplechase horses, Plated and Gustavian, found success at Great Meadow. Her Personal Start captured the Grade 2 David Semmes Memorial Stakes at the 2018 Virginia Gold Cup meet.
Chris fell in love with the Middleburg area and is excited about his adopted home’s lucrative equine breeding programs, specifically the Virginia-certified and Virginia-bred programs. “We have been foaling a ton of mares now because the program has gotten so good.” He has seen an increase in the number of people who want to bring down mares to the state. “I think myself and my clients are making a big investment in Virginia-Breds due to the trajectory of the program.” He continued “outside of Kentucky this is the best breeding program in the country, especially for people who breed commercially, it has a lot of upside.”
Solid evidence supports Chris’ enthusiasm about the Virginia-Certified Residency Program. More than 5,000 horses have been enrolled since the project’s inception in 2017. A recent study commissioned by the Virginia Equine Alliance (VEA) shows the Virginia-Certified Residency Program generated an estimated economic impact of $86.2 million between 2017 and 2023.
Chris is projecting to have 35 foals this season, a number he believes is just the right amount for his operation. “We have people ship horses in, I have a bunch of my mares, and I have some with partners. We are looking forward to having some Virginia-Breds.”
The horses that have been foaled or certified at Gracie Bloodstock have been tearing it up on the racetracks across North America. Book’em Danno was the New Jersey horse of the year with 4 wins and 2 seconds in his 6 career starts, notably winning the Black-type Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and the Futurity Stakes at the Belmont at the Big A meet. He recently finished second in the Grade 3 Boutique group Saudi Derby Stakes, pushing his lifetime earnings to $560,625.
Carmelina, who was just named 2023 Virginia-Certified Filly Champion by the Virginia Thoroughbred Association (VTA,) was also certified by Chris. She has had 8 starts in her career, including four wins and a second. She won the Black-type Gin Talking Stakes at Laurel Park, the Black-Type Shamrock Rose Stakes at Penn National, and the Keswick Stakes at Colonial Downs. She has earned $263,300 in her time on the track.
Despite all these major successes outside of Virginia, Chris still has a sweet spot for Colonial Downs and looks forward to bringing his horses down to race at his adopted track. “The racing at Colonial is getting better all the time!”
2023 was another successful year of Virginia racing and on May 3rd we celebrated our champion Virginia bred and certified horses! It was a beautiful evening under the tent at Great Meadow, which was filled with the owners, breeders, and fans of our Virginia horses. Gigante and his breeder, Ann Backer of Smitten Farm, took the evening’s top honors for 2023 Virginia bred Horse of the Year, champion Three-Year-Old colt and Co-breeder of the year.
Ann Backer with Wayne Chatfield-Taylor. Photo by Hannah Jones Photography
Breeder of three Virginia champions in 2023, Audley Farm, also accepted plenty of silver during the evening. Audley accepted honors as Co-breeder of the year along with trophies for Virginia bred two-year-old, older mare and turf sprinter champions.
Audley Farm crew taking advantage of the nice view. Hannah Jones Photography
ANN BACKER & SMITTEN FARM: 2023 Co-Breeder of the Year
AUDLEY FARM EQUINE, LLC: 2023 Co-Breeder of the Year
NEIL MORRIS: 2023 Virginia-Based Trainer of the Year
All photos provided by Hannah Jones Photography
Awards for 2023 Horse of the Year, Virginia based Trainer of the Year, and our Co-Breeders of the YearAwards for our 2023 ChampionsVirginia owners, breeders and fans watching the 150th running of the Kentucky OaksGreat Meadow
